For Love Reforms Vitality
by tenrousei-kuroi
Summary: A short sestina for my favorite pair of brothers. 'In the tenth year of his life, Sirius Black was cursed with love.' Title credit to Emily Dickinson.


Notes: This is a sestina, a type of poem with a very defined structure. It basically centers on six specific words (in this case the words I have chosen are: Love, Brother, Forever, Fade, Curse, and Alive) and each word is assigned a number from 1 to 6. There are a total of 39 lines, and the first 36 are grouped into 6 stanzas. At the end of each line must be one of the chosen words in the order 1,2,3,4,5,6 for the first stanza, 6,1,5,2,4,3 for the second, 3,6,4,1,2,5 for the third, 5,3,2,6,1,4 for the fourth, 4,5,1,3,6,2 for the fifth, and 2,4,6,5,3,1 for the sixth.

The last part consists of three lines and is known as an envoi, tornada or tercet, and each line must contain two of the chosen six words. The first line must have words 2 and 5, the second words 4 and 3, and the final words 6 and 1. The first word of each pair (eg: word 2) may occur anywhere in the first half of the line, but the second word (eg: word 5) must end the line. Since there is no rhyming structure within a sestina (unless you're crazy), the poetic part of it relies exclusively on the patterned movements of the repeated words, which is known as lexical repetition and… let's be honest, you've all long since stopped reading.

Anyway, it sounds very complicated at first, but it is actually very easy once you get going and if you enjoy writing poetry these are a hell of a lot of fun to do! I'm not saying any of my poems are good or anything, but they exist. Here. On this site.

* * *

In the tenth year of his life, Sirius Black was overconfident, and so was cursed with love,

'_So long as you can always love him, then so shall you always have your brother,'_

And this specific task was simple, because Sirius Black could love his sibling forever,

'_It's a nonissue,'_ he insisted. _'Because I only give the kind of love that never seems to fade'_

Again he was reminded of the need to take care because this was—after all—a _curse,_

'_You need to always remember that only with unceasing love does Regulus Black remain alive.'_

_..._

In his eleventh year when Sirius Black started school, Regulus Black was completely alive,

Even with the wrong color on his uniform The Heir still sent home to his Little One nothing but love,

'_What a pointless waste of time it is,'_ he insisted _'to waste magic on such a never-to-be-tested curse,'_

When the holidays rolled around, Sirius Black said goodbye to his friends and went back to his brother,

And while the relationship with his parents strained, the smiles for Regulus didn't fade,

'_I can't wait for school as well,'_ said The Spare _'I already feel as if you've been gone forever.'_

_..._

In the twelfth year of his life Sirius Black first began to marvel at the magnitude of _'forever,'_

It is a very long time and a very lot of work to always have to keep someone else alive,

But Regulus only dies if the love disappears entirely, and so Sirius didn't worry that it began to only fade,

It was simply mathematical that Regulus's monopoly should fall now Sirius had others to love,

Oh, if only that dull old curse had been cast instead on James, his better brother!

The effort to care for James was as natural as breathing, it wouldn't even be a curse.

...

In his fourteenth year, Sirius Black was uncautious about Regulus's curse,

Regulus this and Regulus that…no one could be expected to put up with it forever,

For an entire school term instead of letters and firecalls he sent nothing home to his brother,

He became even more reckless upon noting that lack-of-affections aside, Regulus remained alive,

'_Perhaps the curse wasn't real at all,'_ he said,_ 'and time was wasted with all those expressions of love,'_

And so Regulus stayed and felt the once-strong feelings of being loved continue to fade.

...

In the sixteenth year of his life, Sirius Black found there was no further for his love to fade,

He cut off all ties entirely for he had long since stopped believing in any sort of curse,

In the dead of the night he sneaked off to restart his life with the brother he did _actually_ love,

While his heart did still beat, in that instant Regulus Black did sign his life away forever,

The next few years passed in a blur, and the Blood Traitor assumed him at least still _alive,_

So abandoned, The New Heir was Marked alone because he himself had no spare brother.

...

In his twenty-first year, Sirius Black spared more than a few thoughts for his dead brother,

Unlike his love, his feelings of guilt were something he couldn't command to fade,

If he'd been less self-absorbed, less overconfident, Regulus Black might still be alive,

His unloved Little One had been pulled down that path because he'd lost to the curse,

And as much as he wanted a second (or third? Or fourth?) chance, it seemed done forever,

There was nothing to do but slump down and cry, crushed under the waves of now-returning love.

...

'_I'm sorry, baby brother, that I couldn't manage to save you from my own curse,_

'_My care did fade, but for what it's worth I will now hold you in my heart forever,'_

And as though alive, a deadened limb does twitch as if it maybe still feels love.

...

_Signed/tenkuroi_


End file.
